


we could have danced

by moderateTrouble



Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: also nonbinary courier that uses they/them, this is incredibly self indulgent! just a cute little thing! ok bye
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:00:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29347803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moderateTrouble/pseuds/moderateTrouble
Summary: veronica & arcade stumble on an old recording with a familiar face.
Kudos: 7





	we could have danced

“Afternoon, Arcade!” Veronica called out as she entered the lounge floor of the Lucky 38.

The former-Brotherhood scribe gave a little wave to the bespectacled blonde who was hunched over a book at the bar. He gave a lazy wave in return, not bothering to look up from his spot. Undeterred by his typical distracted behavior, Veronica made her way over to one of the terminals behind the bar’s counter and plopped down a stack of holotapes with a clatter.

“Still watching whatever old tapes you can find, huh?” Arcade commented, not bothering to look up.

“Yep!” Veronica grinned, picking up a tape to inspect the label on its spine. “You miss a lot of fun stuff when you live in a hole. The elder would have killed me if I came home with weird stuff like this. You mind if I watch these here?”

“Go ahead.”

“Great!” she popped the first tape into the terminal’s tape deck. “I got these from that singer, Bruce, from the Tops. Weird guy! But he has a whole stack of recorded performances from New Reno he’s letting me borrow.”

“Lucky you,” Arcade snorted.

“Lucky me indeed, Ganon!” Veronica pointedly replied, hitting play on the first tape. 

The empty lounge filled up with an explosion of brassy noise and drums. It was the opening to a jazzy, upbeat song with a truly bombastic score. Arcade was never a big fan of the pop songs, but he had to admit he liked what he was hearing. His robed friend was leaning forward, watching the performer on screen closely. The camera had been pulled back, showing a glittering stage that he guessed, from what he heard about New Reno, was likely the Shark Club. 

As introduction to the song swelled and crashed, melting down into an energetic backing track, a young person with long dark hair dressed in a glittering evening gown stalked down the stage with confidence. The camera was pulled back, giving a wide shot of the full stage and band. Yet, despite looking small compared to the rest of the stage, the singer still managed to command everyone’s attention. 

“ _Omae-! Kuru ka to-!_ ”

“Do you recognize what they’re saying?” he asked Veronica. Curiosity piqued over the strange performance, he stood up to peer over her shoulder.

She shook her head. “Nope, though I’m not really familiar with anything besides English and Spanish. Whatever it is, it sound very di-”

Whatever Veronica was about to say, the words halted in her throat. Her hand flew to the terminal’s keyboard, slamming on the pause button. 

“Holy SHIT!”

“Whoa, what is it?” Arcade jumped, taken by surprised at her energetic exclamation. 

“Did you fucking see that?”

“No, what are you talking about?”

“Oh my god, okay hold on,” Veronica fiddled with the controls, grumbling to herself before finally figuring out how to rewind the tape. 

“THERE!” she exclaimed, stopping the video. 

The camera had pulled in, close now and centered on the performer. It was blurry, on account of being a holotape recording, but Arcade was still able to make out most of the performer’s features. They looked young, probably a teenager. Their face was rounder, framed by shoulder-length dark hair. It didn’t look like anyone Arcade knew, but still something about their face felt so familiar… 

Then he saw the eyes. Warm brown behind heavy lids.

It clicked.

“Holy shit,” Arcade eyes widened. “Is that… Saya? OUR Saya?”

“I think that is indeed our Saya,” Veronica leaned back, letting out a scoff in surprise. “I… wow. I never would have expected this.”

“Yeah I mean… have you ever heard them sing before? Let alone watching them bounce around on stage like this…”

“They’re not half bad,” Veronica chuckled, pressing play on the holotape again. Sure enough, the younger Saya was quite talented. The crowd seemed enraptured by them, clapping along to the beat of the song they were singing. When the music faded and they took a bow, they were met with thunderous applause before the holotape cut out. 

Arcade and Veronica sat in stunned silence for a moment, staring at the terminal, and then each other. 

“You know what we have to do with this, right?” Arcade asked.

“… Show it to everyone else?” she replied. 

The pair grinned.

———

“Well, that sure was somethin’,” Raul leaned back on his barstool, a chuckle escaping his charred lips. “Not my type of music, but it wasn’t bad.”

“I think it’s hilarious,” Cass jeered, taking a swig of the whiskey she had stored behind the counter. “OH my god, it’s like they’re The Tammys or some shit, hooting around like that.”

As Cass laughed so hard she doubled over the countertop, the distinct “chunk” of the ancient elevator doors sliding open resonated throughout the lounge. 

“Hey, hey! Having a party without us?” Saya called as they came down the hallway, followed by Boone and Rex. The cyberdog bounded past them up to Raul, who greeted the pup with a scratch at the non-metal part behind his ear. Boone made his way over to Arcade, who took his hand and gave a squeeze which the sniper returned. It was as much PDA as Boone was comfortable with at that moment, but Arcade still caught a smile softening the edges of his lips. He couldn’t help but give a warm grin in return. Saya plopped down on a barstool next to Raul, making a grabby motion at Cass who slipped them a freshly opened, cold beer. 

“Here you go, our dear songbird!” Cass cooed with a snicker. Veronica elbowed her in the ribs, to which she gave a wordless “OW!”

“Songbird?” Saya looked puzzled, sipping the beer thoughtfully. “Why Miss Cassidy, I thought you said we wouldn’t talk about what went on in bed…!”

“Oh you wish!” Cass scoffed. 

“Uh doesn’t that just insult your own ability to perform Cass?” Arcade raised an eyebrow. Whatever snark he would have followed up with was quickly silenced when he met the caravaneer's glaring gaze. 

“No but really, that’s quite the peculiar nickname,” Saya tapped a finger on the counter. “What gives?”

“Well!” Veronica grinned. “You’ll never believe what we found!”

“Hm?” Saya leaned forward curiously as Veronica popped the Holotape back into the terminal. Raul and Cass sat back chuckling to each other in knowing. The performance began again.

“ _Omae-! Kuru ka to-!”_

Now that Saya was sitting in front of him, it was clear they were the same person on the holotape. Even Boone was looking on with curiosity, and Rex had perked his ears at the sound. Arcade smiled to himself, amused at their find. He glanced over to Saya, ready to make a quip about their inspired fashion choice as a youth but the words caught in his throat. 

They looked shocked. Not in the funny, “Ah what a surprise!” amusing way either. The color had drained from their face and their eyes were wide. They were confronting something they had not wanted to remember. It sent a chill up Arcade’s spine to see the person normally so calm and collected appear so shaken. He looked at Veronica and cleared his throat to get her attention. When the scribe finally looked, he made a small motion towards Saya. Veronica looked at them, surprised as he was to see their distress. Veronica smacked the pause button and stood up suddenly.

“Oh crap, I just remembered! Cass, our shipment of munitions is due at 2pm, not 4! You two mind giving me a hand?” she motioned at Raul and the redhead.

“V, not again!” Cass sighed, getting to her feet. “Fine, but you owe me a cold one after okay?” 

“Lead the way, miss,” Raul shrugged, following after her. As she left, Veronica shot a glance over her shoulder at Arcade. _Handle this._ Message received. 

Arcade looked up at Boone, who gave him a nod. Offering his hand one more supportive squeeze, he quietly left the room. Then it was just Saya and Arcade.

“… Ugh,” they grumbled, sinking forward into their folded arms. “Fuck.”

“Hey, Sy,” Arcade took a seat next to them. He moved close enough so they would know he was there, but he thought better than to try and touch them at that moment. 

“Hey Arcade,” Saya’s voice was muffled. “I sure know how to clear a room…”

“Don’t put yourself down like it,” his voice was gentle, but firm. “What just happened, Sy? I’ve never seen you react like that before.”

Saya was silent for a long moment before rolling their head to peek out over their arm at him. “I honestly don’t know. Seeing that tape… hearing my voice… ugh. I just panicked.” 

“I’m sorry that we played it,” Arcade said quietly. “We should have brought it up to you first before showing everyone.”

Saya sat up, shaking their head of dark, shaggy hair. It was a far cry from the cleaned up face on the holotape. “Nah, don’t worry. You didn’t mean any harm by it. Besides, you know I would have done the same to you.”

At that the two broke out into a grin. Reassured, Arcade put an arm around Saya and pulled them into a side hug. They leaned into the hug, hanging against him. He didn’t let up until they went to pull away on their own. 

With a sigh, Saya took a sip from the warming beer and leaned forward, reaching across the bar to press play on the terminal. Music once again filled up the room, though they quickly turned the volume down. 

“Little less jarring now that I know it's coming,” they chuckled. “Very strange to see myself back then. I almost didn’t recognize myself without the hole in my head!”

“True! If it wasn’t for Veronica’s sharp eyes I’d have never noticed,” Arcade cracked a smile. “It’s strange to see you with all your fingers too.”

“Ah, yeah,” Saya’s grin faltered for a moment. It wasn't as dramatic as before, but Arcade could see them retreat into themself the tiniest bit. “It wasn’t too long after this I lost it, actually.”

“Really?” Arcade gently pressed an arm up against theirs again. “… If you don’t mind me asking, how?”

“Cut it off, actually!” Saya snorted, looking down at the remaining stub of the middle finger on their right hand. “To be fair, though, it was either that or get a bullet in my brain. Had I known then I was so resistant to being shot in the head well…”

They paused when they saw Arcade’s grimacing face. “Kidding! I’m kidding. I know I’m not actually made of Saturnite!”

“You had me worried there for a second, knowing you,” he leered at them over his eye glasses, drawing out a laugh.

“Don’t worry, no hubris for me! Well not more than usual,” Saya winked. They went quiet again, thoughtfully thumbing the lip of their beer bottle. 

He gave them a little nudge. “Hey, what language were you singing in that video?”

“Oh!” Saya perked up. “Japanese! I grew up speaking it with my mom and the other kids that grew up outside New Reno. Though I rarely have use for it anymore.”

“I’ll be honest, considering how you act at times, I’m a little surprised you can speak English let alone Japanese…” Arcade confessed, not bothering to hide his cheeky tone even as Saya jabbed him in the side with a finger.

“Hey!” they protested.“¡También hablo español!” 

“Yo también,” he scoffed “…Raul’s been teaching me.”

“Hm,” Saya clucked their tongue. “God help him.”

“See that’s how I know you’re feeling better. You’re right back to acting like a real bitch,” Arcade wrapped an arm around their shoulder and gave a squeeze, to which Saya gently butted their head into his neck in response. 

“Thanks, Arcade. I appreciate you looking after me,” they smiled.

“Don’t mention it. I’ll just put it on your ever-expanding doctor’s bill for my services.”

His dry humor elicited another bark of laughter from Saya. Then they looked back at the tape, tapping the spacebar on the terminal to restart the performance. The horns blared up again, as the ghostly image of their teenage self drifted down the stage. 

“What happened?” he asked, hesitantly. 

Saya let out a long sigh, tipping their beer bottle over with a finger but not letting it fall. “Tale as old as time. Fell in with the wrong crowd. Bad things happened. Became disillusioned. Tried to leave. They didn’t like that. Eventually I finally escaped, got a job as a mailman, got shot in the head and here I am!” 

“…That’s a lot,” Arcade replied. 

“It’s ancient history now. Just came rushing back to me after this…” Saya smiled, resting their chin in their hand. “When I was really little, I wanted to be an enka singer. I grew up listening to mom’s old holotapes. Chiemi Eri, she was my favorite. I felt like you could see her shaping the music with her mouth as she sang! Like it was clay, and she was forming it into her own thing. I loved how singers like her almost seemed to warble between different notes while they sang… I wanted to be like that. But it wasn’t meant to be. And to be honest… I’m happier where I am now.” 

Silence fell between them as Saya trailed off, despite the music that continued to blare from the terminal. Arcade hadn’t noticed how late it had gotten till the orange glow of the phosphorus screen reflected off both of their glasses.

Then, suddenly, Saya stood up. They extended their right hand to Arcade, coarse from years of work, calloused from their gun and still conspicuously missing their middle finger. He smiled as he took it. Saya tapped the keys to advance to the next performance and turned the volume of the holotape back up. The brassy band filled the air again with their blaring horns, though this time the formerly-jazzy tune was punctuated with slower, sweeter melodies that verged on becoming ballad. The two began to sway around the empty bar room, to no rhythm in particular but the one that with their amateur ears felt like fit with the sound. As the person on the holotape began to sing out in a language unfamiliar to Arcade, Saya sang with them in a language he could understand.

_“I could have danced all night, I could have danced all night, and still, I’d beg for more~ I could have spread my wings, and done a thousand things, I’ve never done before~”_

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I was really nervous about posting this since I've never put out anything with my dear Courier before... esp since this is the only time I've written something that delves directly into their backstory! I hope it was enjoyable to you!
> 
> For those curious, here are the following music references (check them out, theyre good tunes!)  
> Chiemi Eri - "Okosa-Bushi", "I Could Have Danced" (searchable on youtube as 踊りあかそう 江利チエミ, otherwise you'll get results for my fair lady lol)  
> The Tammys - Specifically, I was thinking of "Egyptian Shumba"
> 
> Thanks to Teese and Chip for the edits <3


End file.
